Despite what The White House says, adequate testing sites are still a problem in the US, especially in black and minority communities where the coronavirus has been particularly fatal. To help those communities in need, Beyoncé’s BeyGOOD Foundation is launching a new campaign to provide 1,000 test kits to people in her hometown of Houston, Texas.
A collaboration with her own mother, Ms. Tina Knowles Lawson, the #IDIDMYPART Mobile Testing Relief Campaign officially begins May 8th and 9th, with testing locations being set up in middle schools across the city. In addition to the kits, BeyGOOD will offer protective gear like face masks and gloves, as well as vitamins and household supplies.
“The virus is wreaking havoc on the Black community so we need a movement to prioritize our health,” Knowles Lawson said in a statement. “We are all in this together. But we have to look at what is happening in our Black and Brown communities and how they are being decimated by COVID-19.”
She continued, “It is critical that we stay vigilant with social distancing, wearing a mask, and most of all getting tested. If you don’t get tested then you don’t know if you are a carrier of the virus. Being asymptomatic is how you infect your entire household and those around you, the very people you love. We have got to go to these free testing facilities and find out our status.”
Harris County, where Houston is located, has the most confirmed COVID-19 cases in Texas, accounting for nearly 6,000 of the state’s 32,000.
For more information on the campaign and location sites, head to Bey’s official website. Today’s announcement follows BeyGOOD’s $6 million initiative last month to assist essential workers. That relief effort was in partnership with Twitter founder Jack Dorsey.
In related news, Beyoncé, recently hopped on a remix of Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage”.
